This weekend is Easter. And, it being New Zealand, people actually get vacation from work on Easter. Most people have Good Friday off from work, and kids have it off of school. Most people also have Easter Monday off, too, making it a nice four day weekend. Frequently people travel on Easter, and a lot of popular hiking spots and huts are overwhelmed with visitors because so many people head into the hills. It is actually the start of two weeks of holidays for school kids. Their school year starts at the end of January, and is divided into four 10 week terms. In between each term they get two weeks off, and at the end of Term 4 is the start of their Christmas holidays, which is about six weeks or so.
At any rate, it being Easter and all, I decided to tag along when Alex invited me to join herself, John, and John's workmate Lemuel on a trip to hike on the Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway over Easter. Cape Reinga is at the extreme far north of New Zealand. It's about a six hour drive from Auckland. We left on Thursday to try and avoid the masses of traffic that occurs on the Easter weekend, as everyone flees the city and goes off to do something fun. Thursday night we spent in Whangerei, at the home of one of John's mates from the south island. Then we headed off bright and early on Friday morning, driving ever farther north. We arrived at our destination at about noon, and stashed a bicycle at one end of the trailhead. The idea was that John would hike ahead and ride the bike back to the car, which would be at the other end, and then drive back and get us. We then drove to the other end of the trailhead, where we would start, and had some lunch, then hit the trail. We walked right along the beach for about three hours. It was a bit depressing because we could see where we wanted to get to, and it looked so far away and not like it was getting any closer. But it was great to be hiking (although I can say now that hiking on a beach is not my favorite, even though we were hiking in the hard sand and not in soft stuff) and also hiking with other people.
That night we camped at Pandora Bay. Unfortunately it did not feature light up plants or blue people like Avatar. But we did have some good sing-a-longs around the camp stove (no fires allowed since they are having a drought up there) and some delicious dehydrated chili with noodles for dinner. Mmm. Another yummy hiking food are gummy jet planes. They're like gummified Kool Aid! So yummy, and they're shaped like jet planes, so you can fly them around and crash them into things before you eat them. Mmm again.
The next day featured some actually bush hiking, as we gained elevation from Pandora heading inland and then turned west at the top of the ridge. We continued along, going slightly up and down on the undulating landscape, but also moving pretty slowly. A lunchtime convention turned into a three hour siesta, as we debated our slow pace and the realization that we wouldn't be able to hike as much as we'd planned originally. So we changed our plan and headed for the DOC campground at Tapotupotu Bay. John would then go back the way we'd come the next day, get the car and drive around to the campground, because there's a road that goes there. So we continued hiking and were rewarded with some awesome cliff-top views of waves crashing onto shores far below us. We made it into the campground that evening, and decided to camp across a tidal river from the main campground (see low and high tide photos below). This meant that there were times during the day when we couldn't get to the other side, where the toilets and shower and beach were, but also that we didn't have to be amongst the other holiday goers who were crowded into the campground. We set up camp and had a little "Chicken & sumthin' #12," which consisted of dehydrated chicken, mashed potatoes, soup mix and dehydrated veggies. It was really tasty!
The next morning John got up really early and ran back to where we'd left the car (he is a little crazy like that.) We were having breakfast at about 10 am by the time he came back. Since we'd decided to stay at the campground, we settled down for a day of leisure. Alex taught me how to weave flax leaves into cool flowers, and John made pancakes over the stove and put chocolate and honey on them. We played a short version of "Up and Down the River" which Alex won handily, even though she'd just learned the game. Once the tide went down, we waded across the river to go for a swim at the beach. The waves were intense, and it was fun to try and body surf them. I got knocked around by a couple, turned upside down, and got a ton of salt in my eyes and throat, but it was good nonetheless. I don't think I've ever experienced surf that was larger. Certainly not on Deer Isle! These waves were breaking higher than my head! It was a good reminder of the power of water. I'm not giving up on my dream of being a surf champion just yet, but it is certainly going to be a lot of hard work! I got really tired out just jumping into the waves!
After some cold showers to rinse off, we tried our hand at fishing in our tidal stream. The fish were eating the bait, but they were too small for the hook we had. All we had was a hand line, so we couldn't fish in the surf because there weren't any good rocks to stand on and apparently that's how many fisherman get injured/die because they get swept off the rocks into the surf. Then we decided to take a trip to Cape Reinga. If we'd kept on hiking we would have hiked there, but since we didn't we just drove. There's a pretty little lighthouse at the end, and it was nice to sit on a bench and watch the sun set. Cape Reinga is the meeting point of the Tasman Sea (between NZ and Australia) and the Pacific Ocean, and you can see the two bodies of water slamming together in diagonal waves as they come arounf either side of the Cape. The Maori believe Cape Reinga is the departure point for souls as they leave the earth. There's also a cool wind instrument built into the archway that you walk under to go down the path to the lighthouse. It uses the wind to make varying breathy notes. The result sounds very cool.
Back at our campsite we made dinner (more chili only with rice this time) and played another round of "Up and Down the River." This time I won, with 1 point! Everyone else had a negative score!
The next day we packed up just as it started to rain, and left the campsite earlier than most everyone else. We stopped at the Te Paki Giant Sand dunes which are nearby. They are enormous - much larger than the dunes at Kangaroo Island in South Australia. John and Alex and I hiked up to the top of one and bounded back down. The photo here shows the view from the very foot of the dune, with John at the top for scale. Then we settled into the car for the long drive back home. It was wonderful to get the chance to go north, and great to have friends with whom to share the experience!
After some cold showers to rinse off, we tried our hand at fishing in our tidal stream. The fish were eating the bait, but they were too small for the hook we had. All we had was a hand line, so we couldn't fish in the surf because there weren't any good rocks to stand on and apparently that's how many fisherman get injured/die because they get swept off the rocks into the surf. Then we decided to take a trip to Cape Reinga. If we'd kept on hiking we would have hiked there, but since we didn't we just drove. There's a pretty little lighthouse at the end, and it was nice to sit on a bench and watch the sun set. Cape Reinga is the meeting point of the Tasman Sea (between NZ and Australia) and the Pacific Ocean, and you can see the two bodies of water slamming together in diagonal waves as they come arounf either side of the Cape. The Maori believe Cape Reinga is the departure point for souls as they leave the earth. There's also a cool wind instrument built into the archway that you walk under to go down the path to the lighthouse. It uses the wind to make varying breathy notes. The result sounds very cool.
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